Here is one reason why Sales are down for 2022

[guardian6c]

• EBay has lost almost $2 Billion Dollars in the past 9 months.
• EBay net income/loss for the quarter ending September 30, 2022 was $-1.941B, a 116.68% decline year-over-year.

[valueaddedresource]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

@guardian6c 

You haven't told us where you got your numbers from.  It would be helpful to know that.

---

@mam98031  it looks like you may gotten at least some of this information from:

https://www.businessofapps.com/data/ebay-statistics/ 

Notably, that site does not show adjusted GMV since eBay redefined the term in Q4 2021 and had to restate figures going back to 2018.

It also doesn't link to or cite specifics sources for other info, like their active seller stats - they just say it came from "company data, eBay forums"...I think we can all admit the forums shouldn't always be taken as a 100% accurate source. 😂

This is why I prefer to refer back to eBay's financial reports filed with the SEC - there is much more incentive for them to make sure the data is correct and if not, or if it changes later like redefining GMV, they are obligated to update it.

[chapeau-noir]

ETA:  Oops - this was supposed to be a general post!

Although I don't believe eBay sellers are necessarily always eBay buyers on any great scale (etailing has expanded exponentially and its been a long time since eBay was almost a closed ecosystem), whether they are or not, a shrinking marketplace is going to have shrinking market share.  And a profit picture that is bolstered by cannibalizing the site itself (promoted listings...which, yes, I use) seems pretty short-sighted.

It's why I can't understand this battle for verticals which other markets have already captured, or twitchy fad markets like Funko-Pops - I like Funko-Pops, but they just seem like a slightly more robust version of beanie babies.  There is a veritable gold mine of items on this site that are difficult to get ANYWHERE else - where's the emphasis on what eBay has rather than what it hasn't?

I guess I've never been able to figure out eBay's focus even though I've been using the site for years, and there are many things about it I like.

[rugerskick]

Ebay spends way too much time and policy being unnecessarily adversarial and punitive towards sellers.  The ebay search algorithm is bogged down with such junk, as opposed to other sites and google, which provide better search results for items.  They spend a lot of time banning legitimate items, they spend a lot of time finding whatever they can to penalize sellers, they penalize them for violations they claim they cannot even stay on top of, they spend a lot of time trying to come up with new ways to squeeze more money out of sellers.

All this takes away from time and effort that could be put towards measures that make it easier and better for sellers to sell, thus improving both sellers and ebays bottom lines.

[valueaddedresource]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

As to "promotions".  Sellers are not required to use promotions.  Seller CHOOSE to use promotions.  Further it is the seller that decides how much more in FVFs they are willing to pay for the sale.  Sometimes sellers need to step up and accept when they have options.  Not everything is Ebay's fault.  If you don't like the promotion tool, simply don't use it.  We have 19 million active sellers on Ebay.  Less than ONE million of them use promoted listings.

https://www.edesk.com/blog/ebay-statistics/

Of those sellers that use promoted listings there are about 250 million promoted listings on Ebay out of 1.7 BILLION listings.  Or promoted listings are about less that 1 Percent of listings.

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/ebay-statistics

---

@mam98031  - also as previously noted, those links reference data from 2019 and/or don't appear to be using data since eBay recast GMV, so what you are quoting may no longer be accurate or at least may not be the most recent information.

And on the edesk link, if you scroll to the bottom and check the links they provided to their sources, it's clear they pulled the 19M active sellers stat from the Q3 2021 report.

Do you have a source with actual eBay data showing there were 19M active sellers at any point in 2022?

[theteamsetguy]

You have been on these boards complaining about not being able to contact ebay customer services.

More and more companies including ebay are moving their customer service to social media. Because of your preference not to use social media you keep on complaining you can't get ahold of anyone at ebay that can help you. 

Whether you like him or not Mr. Zuckerberg has built Facebook messenger into a free service used by over 1.2 billion people worldwide. This why  more and more company including ebay are also using it. Many sellers here including myself have used messenger to contact ebay with good success. Just because you use Facebook messenger doesn't require you to use their other services.

I have never figured out why you are so against using the messenger service to contact ebay?

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

Curious, Do you work for Ebay since you said:  We have 19 million active sellers on Ebay

[mam98031]

---

@johnjefprks wrote:

What I am saying is if you look at that graph, most of the revenue before managed payments was generated by seller fees on sales. Which is a good indication of where ebay is heading. When you take out the revenue from manage payment the graph goes downhill. Now thew are trying to pad the revenue with Prompted listings instead of trying to increase sales.

---

You do realize that Ebay has every right to make a profit off of an additional service offered just like any other corporation does.  The processing fee is about 2.9% just like PP charged us, but now Ebay gets those funds.  The majority of our FVFs is for the sale like it always was.  When we had PP processing payments, they got 2.9% and Ebay charged about a 10% FVF, total 12.9%, which just happens  to be the same rate as most categories on Ebay if the seller doesn't have a store.

Promoted listings are NOT new and are completely voluntary by sellers.  And SELLERS set the rate they are willing to pay Ebay for the promoted listing.  It is a tool just like other ones Ebay offers.  Sellers can choose to just them or not.  It is up to the seller.  And just like any other corporation, there is a fee associated with these added services.  Ebay is no different nor should they be held to a different standard.

[mam98031]

I have posted links up thread.  A few years ago I believe the number of active sellers was 25 million worldwide.  At some point it dropped to 19 million.  I'm not sure when that happened, but it wasn't in the last couple of years.

Now the number of active buyers has certainly dropped to a bit lower than we had pre-pandemic.  That is certainly disturbing.

[mam98031]

If you have data you prefer to look at, you are free to post it.

[farmalljr]

---

@theteamsetguy wrote:

You have been on these boards complaining about not being able to contact ebay customer services.

More and more companies including ebay are moving their customer service to social media. Because of your preference not to use social media you keep on complaining you can't get ahold of anyone at ebay that can help you. 

Whether you like him or not Mr. Zuckerberg has built Facebook messenger into a free service used by over 1.2 billion people worldwide. This why  more and more company including ebay are also using it. Many sellers here including myself have used messenger to contact ebay with good success. Just because you use Facebook messenger doesn't require you to use their other services.

I have never figured out why you are so against using the messenger service to contact ebay?

---

I don't use social media either. 

I can help you "figure". I use eBay. eBay owns the site, the platform, and has a way to contact them through their own company. eBay has the ability to call you, email you, or snail mail you. I don't want to or NEED to sign up with another company as a means of contacting eBay. They already have the tools to communicate with me. 

Many of us want nothing to do with other sites and social media. Period. And there is ZERO reason anyone should have to use it to communicate with eBay. Phones, email, and chats still work fine. Social media poses ZERO advantages or cost savings for the platform. 

[mam98031]

I provided the links.  I wasn't trying to hide a thing.  Again if you have preferred data to share, feel free to do so.

[mam98031]

---

@lawnmowerpartsstore2 wrote:

Curious, Do you work for Ebay since you said:  We have 19 million active sellers on Ebay

---

@lawnmowerpartsstore2 

All Ebay employees that post on the threads have the Ebay logo on their post and their post is outlined in blue.  If you prefer to share different numbers, please feel free to do so, there are all kinds of them on the internet.

[valueaddedresource]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

I have posted links up thread.  A few years ago I believe the number of active sellers was 25 million worldwide.  At some point it dropped to 19 million.  I'm not sure when that happened, but it wasn't in the last couple of years.

Now the number of active buyers has certainly dropped to a bit lower than we had pre-pandemic.  That is certainly disturbing.

---

@mam98031  understood - and as I posted upthread in response, those links were showing information from 2019 and 2021.

I'll ask again - do you have a source showing data from eBay that states they had 19M active buyers any time in 2022?

[valueaddedresource]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

I provided the links.  I wasn't trying to hide a thing.  Again if you have preferred data to share, feel free to do so.

---

@mam98031 I already provided my data, which comes directly from eBay and shows the last public data they have provided was 17M active sellers in Q4 2021.

Again, do you have a source which shows eBay data stating active sellers was 19M at any point in 2022?

[farmalljr]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

I provided the links.  I wasn't trying to hide a thing.  Again if you have preferred data to share, feel free to do so.

---

You keep using 2019 numbers. I remember the thread where another poster had corrected you and gave you the links to the updated information. eBay has admitted itself, there are not 19 million users anymore. The last report a year ago was 17 million. 

I think the point was that you keep spouting old, inaccurate numbers. Is it to make eBay look like they are doing better than they are, or do you just refuse to get informed about the truth? And isn't eBay also closing down another market in the middle east? If so, that's even more users gone. 

The platform is SHRINKING. Doesn't matter how good or consistent your sales are, the facts don't change because you are happy at the moment.  And I would also point out, that since MP took over and the fees now include everything in the sale at the full rate, AND PL is now charged on the WHOLE sale, eBay is bringing in a lot more money on the same dollar, then they ever did before. Another poster was trying to point out, this fact, skews what eBay is bringing in. Meaning that there are less things sold, but eBay is bringing in more money on those sales. 

Others are just trying to point out, this is not a very smart long term plan for this company. Yes, they have a right to make money. But if they want to not keep going backwards, they need to grow sales. You can only add so much fees on the sale before people just start leaving left and right. Buyers and sellers are DEFINATELY leaving. More Asian drop shippers does not equate to more sales. So when people leave, do you honestly think they are replaced with another new seller, selling the same stuff? Obviously not, as the amount of trinket drop shippers has REALLY grown over the last few years.